Absorbent articles, such as taped diapers or pant diapers, for example, may be manufactured by a process where discrete articles, such as a chassis of a taped diaper or a pant diaper comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent core, for example, are applied to one or more moving webs of components, such as webs of front and rear belt portions, or a single web of front belt portions or rear belt portions, for example. To achieve this, a transfer device may be provided that comprises one or more transfer heads and a frame defining a rotation axis. The transfer heads may circumnavigate about the rotation axis in an orbit. Each of the transfer heads may comprise a transfer surface that is configured to engage one or more of the discrete articles. The transfer heads may pick up the discrete articles at a pick-up location and place the discrete articles at a drop-off location within the orbit. In certain instances, the transfer device may rotate the discrete articles about 90 degrees, or other suitable angles, between the pick-up location and the drop-off location about a second rotation axis that is perpendicular, or substantially perpendicular, to the rotation axis. Some transfer devices that rotate and transfer discrete articles are known in the art as “turn and repitch” units because the units turn the discrete articles and repitch them (i.e., change the spacing or “pitch” between them) between the pick-up location and the drop-off location. The repitching capability of these units, however, is somewhat limited and frequent change-outs of the entire transfer devices, or portions thereof, typically must be done to transfer discrete articles having different sizes (e.g., different MD widths and/or different CD lengths). This is owing to the fact that the transfer heads of typical transfer devices circumnavigate about the rotation axis in the orbit at a constant angular velocity, thereby reducing or eliminating any pitch variation at the drop-off location. Differently sized discrete articles may require different drop off pitches at the drop-off location. Other transfer devices may not repitch the discrete articles and may merely turn them. Still other transfer devices may not repitch or turn the discrete articles and may merely transfer them. These last two categories of transfer devices still require frequent change-outs of the entire device, or portions thereof, when differently sized discrete articles are being transferred.
What is needed are methods for transferring discrete articles that significantly reduce the number of change-outs of the transfer devices, or portions thereof, when changing sizes of the discrete articles being transferred.